What's a job?

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry announced $23 million in federal stimulus funding today.

Lex Tran will receive $4.4 million for new buses, scheduling software, conversion of buses to hybrid technology and the construction of new shelters.

The city will allocate another $12 million to a 1,700 foot section of the Newtown Pike extension, connecting Main St. to Versailles road.

The Legacy Trail, a proposed nine mile walking an biking trail, will receive $4.7 million in federal funding. Planners say the money should fund completion of the trail's first two phases, a seven mile stretch from the Kentucky Horse Park to the Northside YMCA on Loudon Ave.

The final $1.1 million in federal stimulus funds will pay for the first phase of the downtown streetscape project. The city plans to install curbside rain gardens, wider sidewalks, dedicated bike lanes and non-peak "parking lanes."

"These projects mean solid progress and real jobs," Newberry said. "These are exactly the kinds of projects that the stimulus is intended to fund."

But when the news director for 630WLAP radio asked how many jobs the projects would create, the Mayor didn't know.

"We are awaiting some additional guidance from the federal government about what actually constitutes a job for their purposes."

This vividly illustrates the utter incompetence of both local and national politicians. The whole purpose of the stimulus was to create jobs and jumpstart the economy. But these projects do not create permanent jobs. They merely create temporary work that will only last until the city completes the projects.

Worse, these projects direct taxpayer money out of the private sector into useless projects that serve few people. Government spending allocates resources to things the market would deem less valuable - because they don't really serve the majority, and necessarily away from activities that could create real economic benefit. Every dollar spent to build the walking path (clearly not a necessity) must eventually come from some taxpayer's pocket and represents a dollar that taxpayer no longer has to spend on things he or she wants or needs.

Real economic stimulus derives from citizens keeping more of their hard earned money to spend and invest as they see fit

Editors note: What in the hell is a curbside rain garden??